Manufacture of chlorinated hydrocarbons.



and HOWARD D. CLAYTON, both citizens of necarca.

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minus 3.0 AND nowann n. cmy'ron', or rrrrsnunei-r, rnnnsrtvan'ra,

ASSIGNOBS ro METALS nnsnancn comr, on NEW YORK, n. Y a coEPo- Barron or MAINE.

MAIJUFAGEURE F CHLORINATED HYDROGARBONS. I

To all whom it may concern:

Be it lmown. that we, Jams B. GARNER the United States, and residents of Pittsburgh, Allegheny county, State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Manufacture of Chlorinated Hydrocarbons; and we do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and

exact description of the invention, .such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

. of chlorinated derivatives of hydrocarbons,

. alfin series of hydrocarbons, the olefin series.

Our invention relates to the manufacture including members of the marsh gas or parof hydrocarbons and the benzene series of hydrocarbons, or mixturesjof members of the same or different series, by treating such hydrocarbons with chlorin. A particularly valuable-application of our invention relates Y to the chlorination of mixtures of hydrocarbons such as occur in natural gas, and to the production of mixtures of chlorinated derivatives-therefrom.

Many attempts have heretofore been made to chlorinate natural gas, but so far as we are aware, it has been found that the reactions which took place did so more or less violently and'with more or less irregularity, thus resulting inproducts Varying in characterand amount.- v a We have found that by using charcoal as a catalyzer the reactions can be made *to proceed smoothly and regularly, with the resultin production of productsdefinite and regula le in character and amount. We have further found that by using a considerable excess of the natural gas, the chlorination of the hydrocarbons-can be selectively eff fectedwith the resulting "production of mixtures of chlorinated derivatives containing relatively larger. quantities of the .chlorinated'derivatives of the simpler hydrocarbons and less quantities of the chlorinated derivatives of the more complex hydrocarbons,

Theprocess of our invention is generally applicableto the chlorination of hydrocarbons, such as above mentioned, and the pro-- duction of chlorinated derivatives therefrom, whether such hydrocarbons are used Specification of Ietters Patent.

I Patented Apr. 16, 1918. Application filed June 28, 1915. Serial No.85,82o a alone or in admixture with other hydr'o- I the chlorination of natural gas, which comprises a mixture of hydrocarbon gases whose chlorination exhibits to particularadvantage the utility of the invention and. its ready adaptability to widely extended use.

' A typical natural gas capable;of chlorination in accordance with our invention is, for instance, the natural gas used at Pitts.- burgh, Pa., containing methane" (84.7%) ethane (9.4%), propane (3.0%), and other parafiins,all gases more or'less moist.

' According to our invention the natural gas, or the hydrocarbon or mixture of hydrocarbons', is caused to react with chlorin in the presence of charcoal as a catalyzer. The charcoal may be either of vegetable or animal origin, and produced in any suitable manner. In some cases it can withadvantage be used in a freshly produced or freshly calcined condition. The reaction chamber is filledfmore or less completely with the charcoal of a s'uflicient. size to permit the free penetration of the mixture of gasesv throughout the mass, and the mixture of chlorin and hydrocarbonslis passed therethrough, the chamber being heated to a suitl able temperature to cause the desired'reaction to take place. In order thatthe. gases may be more uniformly and thoroughly mixed before their reaction, and theprocess 4 thus made to take place in a smoother and; more advantageous manner, the gases canfirst be passed through'a body of charcoal,

.at a low temperature and given a prelimi! nary mixing before being passed intothe main bodyiof charcoal heated to the reacting temperature. v g

The products of the reaction are hydrogen ohlorid, and the. chlorinated derivatives 1 ofthe hydrocarbons treated, In the case of natural gasof the composition indicated, the following chlorinated. derivatives varying proportions may be produced mono-, 'di-, tri-, and tetra-chlormethane;

chlor-., l-2-'dichlor-, .1-1-dichlor-, 1-1 1-trichlor-, 1-l-2-trichlore,1-11-2-tetrachlor=, 1 1% 2-2-tetrachlor-, pentachlon, and hexachlorl-flv ethane; and monochlor-, 0rtho-,- meta- "and:

.para-dichlor-, as. we, 1-2-4, and 1-3-5- trichlor-benzene.

The nature and advantages of the invention will more fully and clearly appear from the following more detailed description of specific applications f. our process to the chlorination of natural gas. v

The mixture ofchlorin and Pittsburgh natural gas, the constituents of which are for the most part methane, ethane, propane and other paraflins-all gases more or less moist-in the proportion of about'50 volumes of-natural gas to 33 of chlorin, is led into the reaction chamber more or less come pletely filled with charcoal. The chamber containing the charcoal, and into which the mixture of chlorin and natural gas is led,

is protected from the'direct action of sunlight. We have found it advisable in "carrying outthe above reaction to allow the interacting gases to mix more oriless thoroughly,,before they are brought into contact with'the. heated charcoal, and to this end, approximately half the chamber can he maintained at room temperature, and the 1 remainder heated to about300 (3., the mixcharcoal andthereafter passing to the body tuige o'f gases entering first the .cool body of of-charcoal heated to the-reacting temperaturef;

Th rieliininary heating of-the charcoal, 1 antltth subsequent regulation of the temperexit of the vessel, inwhich the chlorinated hydrocarbon products are collected, is dissolved water to form a solution of hydrochloricacid. excess of the natural gas escaping reactlon is for the mostpart ,in-

. soluble in water and is-led from the vessel in -w'hich the hydrogen chlorid is absorbed,

and is used over'again in the system.

principal reaction may-be expressed 'Thei by the ollowing equation:

ural gasgas well as with the amounts of the reacting gases used-..

The secondary:reactions take place toa far lesser extent and result in the formation of. minor, quantities of the chlorinated de.-"- fr rivatives of the other. hydrocarbons present,

I 3OHCl +CH Gl +GTLCI-l-IGHGL :Thisequation however, isused for purposes- 0f illustration only and it is apparent that th eiamount and kind of products indicated w ll'vary withthecomposition of the nat incense such as ethane, ethylene, and benzene. The nature of these chlorinated derivatives, not produced by the principal reaction lllustrated by above equation, has already been mentioned.

We have further found that if the quan- "tities of the chlorin and natunal gas in- .teracting be varied, the relative quantities of the various-products resulting will be changed accordingly.

Thus if the mixture consists of about 50 volumes of Pittsburgh natural gas and 20 volumes of chlorin, and is treated as'already described, it isfound that the reaction re-' sults in the formation of relatively larger uantities of the chlorinated derivativesof t e simpler hydrocarbons and a farless'u quantity of the chlorinated derivatives of the more complex hydrocarbons, than when 50 volumes of the natural gas and 33 volumes of chlorin are used. The principal reaction products are methyl chlorid, methylene chlorid, chloroform, carbon-tetrachlorid, and hydrogen chlorid. 4 I h It is found that the charcoal is not altered.

during the reaction, its function being that p of a catalyzer, which, as hereinbefore noted,

causes the reactions to take place more,

smoothly, without explosive violence, and

with great regularity and uniformity. 1

ilW at we claim is;

1.- The method of chlorinating'natural gas 1 in a smooth and regular manner, whichcomprlses-causlng it to react with chlorin 1n the 2.- The method of chlorinating natural gas presence of charcoal; substantially as dein a smooth and regular manner, which com- I prises causing-it to react with chlorin in the presence of charcoal, and recovering sepa;

rately' the resultin bon products -and t ehydrogen chlorid re-- sulti'ng fromthe reaction; substantially as described.

a 3. The method of treating natural gas, which comprises causing it to react with chlorin in the presence of charcoal, condensing out the chlorinated hydrocarbon prod- M nets, and absorbin in water the hydrogen chlorid resulting rom. the reaction; substantially as described.

x 4. The process of chlorinating natural gas V with chlorin, through a body of charcoal as in a smoothand regular manner which com prises passing an'excess of the gas, together r 5 12o catalytic at a suitable temperature, separatingthe chlorinatedhydrocarbons and hydro-' gen chlorid and subjectingthe unchlorinated gas to further chlorination; substantially as ,describ'edr i 5. The process of chlorinating natural gas containing mainly lighter, hydrocarbons of the parafin series and of producing thererim-mixtures ofchlorinated derivatives of s ch hydrocarbons which compri p g i 105 chlorinated hydrocaran excess of the gas, together with chlorin, through a body of charcoal as catalytic at a suitable temperature, v and thereby efiecting a selective chlorination of such hydrocarbons; substantially as described.

' 6. The process of chlorinating hydrocarbons in a smooth and regular manner which comprises mixing the hydrocarbons with chlorin in a'body of charcoal at-a low temperature and thereafter passing the mixture throu h a body of charcoal heated to about 6; substantially as described.

' 7. The process of chlorinating natural gas in a smooth and regular manner which comprises mixing the natural gas with chlorin in a body of charcoal at a ,low temperature and thereafter passing the mixture through a body of charcoal heated to about 300 C-.; substantially as described.

8 The process of chlorinating hydrocarbons in a smooth and regular manner which comprises passing the hydrocarbon together with chlorin-through a body of charcoal as catalytic at a temperature of about 300 0.; substantially, as described.

9. The meth d of chlorinating a gas containingmethane in a "smooth and regular manner which comprises causing the gas containing methane to react with chlorin in the presence of charcoal; substantially as described.

10. The process of chlorinating a gaseous mixture of hydrocarbons containing methane I in asmooth and regular mannerand of protially as described.

In testimony whereof we afl'ix our signatures.

JAMES B'. GARNER.

HOWARD D. CLAYTON. 

